4.2.4 Ensure ufw loopback traffic is configured

Information

Configure the loopback interface to accept traffic. Configure all other interfaces to deny traffic to the loopback network (127.0.0.0/8 for IPv4 and ::1/128 for IPv6).

Loopback traffic is generated between processes on machine and is typically critical to operation of the system. The loopback interface is the only place that loopback network (127.0.0.0/8 for IPv4 and ::1/128 for IPv6) traffic should be seen, all other interfaces should ignore traffic on this network as an anti-spoofing measure.

Solution

Run the following commands to configure the loopback interface to accept traffic:

# ufw allow in on lo
# ufw allow out on lo

Run the following commands to configure all other interfaces to deny traffic to the loopback network:

# ufw deny in from 127.0.0.0/8
# ufw deny in from ::1

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/benchmarks/18959

Item Details

Category: SECURITY ASSESSMENT AND AUTHORIZATION, SYSTEM AND COMMUNICATIONS PROTECTION

References: 800-53|CA-9, 800-53|SC-7, 800-53|SC-7(5), CSCv7|9.4

Plugin: Unix

Control ID: df85f9177d784d4c70c7f42294b1e4a0480b3ebfb886e2b42d931ab66e671ef5